Wire fence.



No. 714,178. Patented Nov. 25, 1902. .1. HARRIS.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JONATHAN HARRIS, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

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SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 714,178, dated.November 25, 1902.

Application filed March 3, 1902. Serial No. 96,429. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JONATHAN HARRIS, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Cleveland, county of Ouyahoga, State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvementsin Wire Fences, of which Ihereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in woven-wire'fence designed tobemade in the shop ready for attachment to the posts in the field; andthe objects of the invention are to provide a form of fence which willbe to some extent elastic and will readily adapt itself to the surfacesof undulating ground and in which all the line-wires will remainstretched and under tension and unaffected by the contraction andexpansion caused by variations of temperature.

A further object is to provide a clamping device for the wire crossingsso arranged that the clamps upon adjacent stay-wires will havereciprocal binding effects upon one another, so that a weight, as of aperson climbing over the fence or of an animal leaning thereon, willonly tend to more securely tighten the grip of the clamps and preventthem from slipping upon the wires.

My invention consists, primarily, in the waved or undulating line-wires,which provide some elasticity in the completed fence. This has beenpreviously obtained by means of forming the wires in elongated spirals,but has been disadvantageous in its effects upon the life of the wire,for the reason that the coiling machinery by means of which the spiralwas made hardens and makes the wire brittle, besides scraping andinjuring the galvanized surface. Simply waving the wire, however, makesit equally elastic without injuring it in any respect.

My invention further consists in the ringshaped clamps diagonallypassing around the wire crossings and in their reversed position uponadjoining wire crossings, in the selvage edge for the fence, and in themeans for affording limited play to the clamps, as hereinafterdescribed, shown in the accompanying drawings, and specifically pointedout in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a completesection or panel of fence mounted upon its posts at either end. Fig. 2is a completed section of fence, showing a modified form, in which thewires are all slightly bent at the crossings twice in the samedirection, which takes the place of the wave shown in Fig. 1, or thewave may be used in addition thereto, if desired. Fig. 3 is an enlargedview of two wire crossings, the connecting line-wire being shown partlyin dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the crossings mademore rigid by means of sharp crimps in the wires which the clamping-ringencircles. This, however, is more or less injurious to the wires, andfor that reason not as desirable a form of construction. Fig. 4 is aperspective View of a crossing and .clamp thereon'enlarged from Fig. 2,where each wire is shown bent upon each side of the clamp andcontinuously in one direction. Fig. 5 shows the extremity of one of thestaywires wound about the upper wire, thus making a smooth finishededge. The lower extreniities of the stay-wires are also wrapped aboutthe lower line-wires, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 6 shows onemannerof securing the extremities of the stay-wires to the upper andlower line-wires.

In the views, 1 represents the line-wires; 2, the stay-wires; 3, thecircular clamps which are bent by means of suitable dies about the wirecrossings, so that the extremities butt together at 4. These clamps canbe tightly or loosely fixed about the crossings,as desired, since theycannot possibly come off.

The line-wires, as shown in Fig. 1,are waved or undulating on thevertical plane only,which makes the entire fence elastic, so that theupper or lower edges can be slightly lengthened if one end of the fenceis raised or lowered to conform to the shape of the ground. This wavingof the wire on one plane is obtained by means of a machine described inan application for a patent filed simultaneously herewith and isformedin the wire by means of oppositely-movin g curved blocks,which impresstheir curves upon the wire and is not to be confused with the spiralwire now employed for the purpose.

The stay-wires are secured to the line-wires by means of the circularclamps, and the clamps are preferably set to brace or look one another,as seen in Fig. 3, where the clamps on adjacent crossings are reversedin position, thus lying at different angles, so that neither can bemoved upon its wires without clamping the other one more tightly thanever, whereas if all the clamps were secured at the same angles theycould be made to slide together. It will be readily seen in Fig. 3 thatthe weight of the foot upon the line-wire between the clamps will causeboth clamps to bind more tightly than before upon the vertical wires.

In Fig. 6 the extremity of the stay-wire is shown Wound about the upperwire at 5. This makes a very neat finish and a smooth edge, which willnot catch or tear anything brought into contact with it and makes a fineappearance.

In Fig. 4 a peculiarity in the waving of the line-wires is shown, where6 represents short bends, one on each side of the ring-clamp and on boththe stay and line wires. This permits some freedom of movement if theclamp is loosely set about the crossing and permits some play of thewires upon each otherif a suddenchange in theinclination of the groundshould require a bend in the fence. The peculiarity of this feature ofconstruction is found in the fact that each bend is repeated in the samedirection, which has the effect of engaging the projecting edge only ofthe ring, as at 7, on each side directly with the shoulder as the ringmoves from side to side. This prevents the ring from moving past theshoulder, which could not occur if the parts had any other relation toone another. This form of crossing can be used also with the waved Wire,but is useful without, and the rings can also be reversed in position,if desired.

It can be said of this invention that its advantages are great in itsextreme simplicity and freedom from sharp or projecting points, thattear or injure the hair or wool of'animals, and, furthermore, there areno crevices for the collection of moisture to rust the fence, which isespecially the case in the movable joint shown in Fig. 4:, which, beingloose, dries out as quickly as the rest of the fence.

Another important advantage is found in the fact that any size of wirecan be employed to clamp the fence-wires and also for the wirescomposing the fence.

I believe myself to be the first to wave the line-wires on one plane, toreciprocally lock the clamps upon the joints, and to form a loose jointwith a clamp loosely set therein, but limited in its movement.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a wire fence of line and stay wires, and clampsupon the wire crossings, comprising metal rings diagonally placedthereon, the rings upon adjacent joints being reversed in position inrelation to one another, substantially as described.

2. The combination in a wire fence, of line and stay wires, clamps uponthe wire crossings, comprising, rings diagonally placed thereon, therings upon one set of joints being reversed in angular positionrelatively to the rings upon the adjacent joints, and finished smoothedges to the fence, comprising upper and lower line-wires andtheextremities of the stays wrapped thereon, substantially as described.

3. The combination with the line-Wiresof a fence, wound in one planeonly and the staywires therefor, of means for securing the wirestogether comprising ring-clamps diagonally placed on the wire crossings,the rings on alternate joints being reversed in angular position, andthe Wrapped extremities of the staywires, substantially as described.

4, The combination, in a wire fence, of linewires wound in oneplaneonly, stay-wires secured thereto, and means for securing thestay-wires to the line-wires, consisting of the wrapped extremities ofthe stay-wires, and rings diagonally encircling the wire crossings, therings on adjacent joints being reversed in position relatively to oneanother, and means for preventing the rings from slipping on theline-wires, consisting of a bend on each side of the ring and closelyadjacent thereto, the wire being twice bent in the same direction,substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

his JONATHAN HARRIS.

mar: Witnesses:

WM. M. MONROE, O. H. OLDS.

